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Little Richard Rock-'n'-roll progenitor
搖滾鼻祖小理查德
By StephanIe Zacharek
文/斯蒂芬妮·扎卡雷克
In the 1940s, teenagers were just adults in waiting, busy with responsibilities like going to war.
20世紀40年代的青少年與成年人似乎并無二致，除了年齡。因為他們早就在忙著應付各種責任，比如上戰場的責任了。
But the luckier teenagers of the 1950s became a kind of royalty,
相比之下，50年代的青少年則要幸運許多，他們脫胎成了一種貴族，
and Little Richard—who died on May 9 at age 87—welcomed them with an embrace of raucous, peacock splendor.
成了小理查德——已于今年5月9日去世，享年87歲——用喧囂而神氣的擁抱隆重歡迎的對象。
In 1955, his “Tutti Frutti” hit like a glitter bomb of self-expression,
1955年，小理查德的專輯《Tutti Frutti》猶如一顆金光閃閃的、洋溢自我的炸彈一般橫空出世，
opening with a lomp-bomp-bomp that would be rock 'n' roll's Big Bang.
專輯開頭那一陣轟隆隆的轟鳴聲即將成為為搖滾樂開辟鴻蒙的一聲巨響。
Everyone who followed—an eternally scrolling list that includes the Beatles, Elton John and, of course, Prince—owes him a debt.
所有追隨他腳步的人——細數起來就是一份沒有盡頭的名單，披頭士樂隊、埃爾頓·約翰，當然，還有普林斯都在其列——都受了他的一份恩惠。
To anyone who would listen, and to those who wouldn't,
無論是喜歡聽，還是不喜歡聽他的音樂的人，在他們印象里，
the man who was born Richard Wayne Penniman, in Macon, Ga., often boasted that he invented rock 'n' roll.
這位出生在佐治亞州梅肯，原名理查德·韋恩·彭尼曼的家伙都是一個經常吹噓自己發明了搖滾樂的人。
But is it a boast if it's true?
問題是，如果他說的是真的，那還算吹噓嗎？
His splashy but elegant piano attack, his voice as raw as a hungry kiss:
他彈奏的鋼琴曲花俏卻又不失優雅，他的歌聲又如迫不及待的親吻一般直白：
Little Richard was carnal but never vulgar, and his personal style—
小理查德是欲而不俗的，他的個人風格——
the pencil mustache, the metallic suits, the pompadour reaching toward Heaven—
鉛筆胡須，金屬西裝，高高的蓬頭——
spoke to the man inside the woman and the woman inside the man.
既代表了女人內心男人的一面，也代表了男人體內女人的一面。
He showed the world what it meant to be yourself, at a time when that was much harder than it is today.
他昭告了全世界什么才叫做自己，還是在比今天困難得多的年代。
Any among us who ever wanted to scream, shout or wear a sequin:
你我之輩，凡是有過想要尖叫，想要吶喊，或是想穿上帶有濃濃金屬味的行頭的人，
we are all children of Little Richard.
都得尊他一聲“爺爺”。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
